In recent years, more and more people love outdoor and recreational activities such as camping, field trips, or Bar-B-Q during their free time because many people may endure high pressure at work, and have accumulated a lot of tension and stress. Not only can these outdoor activities help people release the stress, but also improve quality of life. Since most places for abovementioned outdoor activities do not have all the facilities, it may be more convenient for people to bring some outdoor furniture such as folding chairs, tables, etc. Thus, making the outdoor furniture light and easy to carry around become important issues for outdoor furniture manufacturers.
A conventional folding table may include a frame which can be collapsed and a table top that is assembled to the frame. The frame and the table top may be fixed together or they can be separated from each other when the folding table is disassembled. As previously mentioned, a desirable folding table has to be light so the user can easily carry the folding table around, and is expected to be conveniently operated, especially during the folding and unfolding processes. Furthermore, the desired folding table may have to be collapsed to a very compact size to reduce the space used for storage and transportation. Also, a desirable visual design is becoming an increasingly important factor for a folding table to be commercially successful in the current market.
US 2012/0285351 to Cohen discloses a lightweight folding table having a tabletop and legs that fold into smaller sizes. The tabletop has a main panel, a first side flap panel, and a second side flap panel. The first side flap panel and the second side flap panel are joined to the main panel with hinge connections. The hinge connections enable the first side flap panel and the second side flap panel to rotate from open positions that are coplanar with the main panel to folded positions that are under the main panel. However, the lightweight folding table disclosed by Cohen does not seem sturdy and the folding table includes too many pieces that have to be put together, which decreases the structural strength of the folding table and the assembly process may take long time. Recently, US 2013/0233210 discloses a foldable table including a table top and legs that are movable between an extended position and a collapsed position with better structural strength. However, increasing the structural strength also increases the weight of the folding table, as well as material and manufacturing costs. In addition, this type of folding tables is not visually desirable for certain situations.
Therefore, there remains a need for anew and improved folding table that is structural strong, light-weight, visually desirable, and can be easily operated to overcome the problems stated above.